Draft Your Platform Action Plan: 5 Worksheets

Last weekend at the Midwest Writers Workshop, I offered a workshop on author platform building. Part of the workshop included 5 worksheets to help writers take an inventory of their platform (as it stands today), and also brainstorm how to better grow it.

Good news for you: I’m making my platform worksheets available for free.

New writers may think they don’t have a “platform,” but everyone does. It might not be big or dramatic, but you do have one. These worksheets help you think about that platform from multiple angles, and for those who are advanced enough, you can also put some numbers behind it.

Note: If the term “platform” is new to you, in short, it can be defined as whatever gives you visibility and an ability to connect with readers. I gave some fundamental advice about developing platform in this blog post at my Writer’s Digest blog: The Hardest Part About Developing Platform

A brief guide to the 5 worksheets

Content. This worksheet helps you brainstorm all the content you currently own rights to, and prompts you to think of ways you might repurpose it for different mediums or channels.

Website/Blog. This worksheet is especially helpful for fiction writers or poets who aren’t sure what to blog about. The checklist acts as a prompt/creativity tool to get you thinking beyond “I’ll just write about my own work.” I’ve also included a checklist of questions about your site’s purpose, and how to maximize its impact. Note: USP stands for “unique selling proposition”—and if you can’t fit the USP into the space provided, it’s probably too complicated or unfocused.

Social Media. This worksheet takes stock of your social media presence, and prompts you to think about where your audience might actually hang out (rather than just where other WRITERS hang out).

Actual Reach. This worksheet can be especially helpful if you’re putting together a book proposal, or doing a 6-month or annual inventory of where and how you seem to be succeeding. It is somewhat limited and could be crass, depending on who you are (numbers don’t tell the whole story, not by a long shot), but metrics can be essential in being more efficient with your efforts. (Note: Book sales and downloads are also part of your metrics; add those if applicable to you.)

Do you have questions about platform, or about the worksheets? Please leave a comment!

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Jane Friedman

Jane Friedman (@JaneFriedman) has 20 years of experience in the publishing industry, with expertise in digital media strategy for authors and publishers. She is the co-founder and editor of The Hot Sheet, the essential newsletter on the publishing industry for authors.

In addition to being a columnist for Publishers Weekly, Jane is a professor with The Great Courses, which released her 24-lecture series, How to Publish Your Book. Her book for creative writers, The Business of Being a Writer (University of Chicago Press), received a starred review from Library Journal.

Jane speaks regularly at conferences and industry events such as BookExpo America, Digital Book World, and the AWP Conference, and has served on panels with the National Endowment for the Arts and the Creative Work Fund. Find out more.

Jane, I love the platform worksheets. I was so looking forward to meeting you this coming weekend at the Willamette Writers Conference, but I’m stuck in Seattle and can’t make it after all. I’m teaching a class this fall about platform and would love to use you as the guru my students should turn to. I’ll sign up and take your WD class since I can’t make it to Portland (my home town) this weekend. Hope to connect sometime soon. Mindy @ mindyhalleck.blogspot.com

[…] Draft Your Platform Worksheets (your platform means how you get seen and found – could be a book, a blog, public speaking, etc). […]

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7 years ago

Ross Lampert

Terrific worksheets, Jane, even for non-writers. I’m struggling to bring a group of non-profit organizations into the social media world and they’re having trouble with just about everything associated with it: many of their leaders are “digital dinosaurs,” not even “digital immigrants,” and on top of that, marketing is a foreign–and frightening–concept to them (they’re mostly ex-military). These worksheets could give them something to start from. Would you mind if I tweaked the worksheets to fit into their world better, with full credit to you as the original creator, of course?

I agree—these worksheets can be helpful to anyone or any organization who needs an online marketing plan. Feel free to tweak & share.

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7 years ago

Ross Lampert

Thanks!

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7 years ago

Ross Lampert

Thanks!

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7 years ago

links for 2011-08-02 « Charlottesville Words

[…] Draft Your Platform Action Plan: 5 Worksheets | Jane Friedman "Last weekend at the Midwest Writers Workshop, I offered a workshop on author platform building. Part of the workshop included 5 worksheets to help writers take an inventory of their platform (as it stands today), and also brainstorm how to better grow it." […]

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7 years ago

Karen Lawrence

Thanks Jane, these are super. They will be used and passed on to my clients!

I had a question about the website page: are the content items on the checklist all stuff you’re SUPPOSED to be doing, or are any of these the kinds of things you’d warn writers NOT to do? I’m wondering since the first one is “personal thoughts / ramblings / unfiltered day to day stuff,” and another on the list is “pictures of my pet / family / children / garden / etc.” Would you recommend keeping that stuff off your writing blog, or does it help show your personality if used in moderation?

EXCELLENT question! It would not be wise to attempt all the suggestions on the page. I offer it up as a brainstorming tool—and also to help you consider whether your blogging is too unfocused to gain a meaningful following. Personal thoughts & ramblings work great for the really-famous authors (celebrities). It works less well for the rest of us. But there are exceptions to every rule—it depends on how much of an “interesting” person you are. Pictures of your pet, family, garden, etc, can be a fun element and might even distinguish you (if these things prove truly “interesting”). Bottom… Read more »

I have recently discovered your blog, and I find your posts timely and incredibly helpful. They have also contained new ideas that have helped me tremendously expand upon my own actions for book marketing. These platform sheets are awesome!

[…] in various ways, with how to present ourselves publicly as writers. One of us, after reading up on author platform, branding and the like, suggested we might benefit from working together to pin down our author […]

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5 years ago

Victoria

Jane, what an incredible resource for newbies — and even those who’ve been on the block awhile. Thanks for sharing!